Steering mechanism



June 19, 1.945. F, GASC HE 2,378,474

STEERING MECHANISM Filed Oct-7 1945 s Sheets-Sheet 1- A9 22 T5 are rd IQO GAIINVENTOR ATTORNEYS E BY PW/#6379! June 19, 1945. F. GASCHESTEERING MECHANISM Filed Oct.- '7, 1943 3 sheetssheet 2 ATTORNEYS June19, 1945. F, A HE 2,378,474

STEERING MECHANISM Filed OctQ'7, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ATTORNEYSPatented June 19, 1945 Fried Gasche, Titusville, Pa, assignontorStruthers- Wel'lszEorpnratibn; -'1itusville;.Pa=., a corporation ofMaryland.

I Claim;-

This invention. relates. to. a; control. mechanism for the hydraulic.steering; mechanism. t ships and has; for its. objectthe provision. of amach-- ani'sm. of this. character which is. simpler and lessexpensilvein construction than. those here tofore .in use,. which' is. positive(in. its; operation. and. which. Will" reliablyv hold; the. rudder in.anydesired'positi'on with a minimum. expenditure: of?

power.

In the accompanying drawings;

Fig. 1 is a. diagrammaticpla-n view: ofrthecone trol.mechanismembodying. this. invention Fig; 2 is an. elevation. 01; a.portionthereof; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical longitudinal section,on an. enlarged scale,. takensubstantially on line. 3-3,,F.'i'g. 1;.Figs. 4' and 5" are cross sections. taken; on, the

I correspondingly numbered lines in. Fig 3 and;

showing. the Genevaston-mechanism in.one.po.-

sition.. 4 I

Fig; 6 is av crossv sectiontalien. on. line, 6-6-,.

Fig. 3 but showingthe Geneva ston mechanism in.v

another position. I

In the following, decsripti'on similar reference characters indicatelike parts in. the. several views.

of'the drawings. I

The steering. mechanism of the ship.in.connec.-; tion 'withwhich thepresent invention. is used; may be. variously constructedtbutv that;shown in the, drawings, as an example, capable. of embcdy-,- ing thisinvention is. constructed as followsz...

. The numeral HI represents-the. upright. rudder stock or shaft which isiournal'edl in any, suitable.

1 manner on the rudder post ofthe. ship. and.pro.-

vid'ed on its lower part with tl'ie usual. rudder. Hi

while itsupper end or head has. secured thereto a tiller or. steeringarm l2"which in. this. instance.

projects forwardly. A horizontally turningmovement is imparted. to thistiller. by. a hydraulicactuator' consisting. preferably of twohydraulic. power cylinders I3; M mounted. transversely on.

the ship on opposite sides of' the tiller and a.v

double ram 01" plunger. movable lengthwise.- with. its outer ends, lj5,.I'Sji'n saidcylinders. and pro.-

in a guideway l'8 in the. tiller- Uponalternat'ely introducing'liquidunder pressure into" the outer ends of these cylinders and withd'rawihgthe.

of the ship andextends througha: stationary con-- trollbox housing or.casing; Zltwhich: encloses mostthe: hydrauliccylinders by. various.means such for; example,, as. those which. are shown in United.1,108,443 and.

States. Patents Nos. 924;787, 1,993,435 and. which include a Waterburyhydraulic. pump I41 driven by. a. continuously nun nin-g. electricmotorv 20,. conduits 2t, 22. connectmg. opposite sides.- of. this. pump.with. the. outer ends of thepower cylinders and. a reversiblecontrolmechanism 23 having a valve shifting rod. or. stem 241Which. uponrestingins-its. central position will cause the pump. to not discharge. any

liquid but. which. upon. being movedin one. (11-;

rectionwill cause the. pump tordeliver oil. or.- other liquid? under.pressure. through one. of the conduits "to. one. of. the cylinders. and.Withdraw liquid throughtheother conduitfrom the other cylinderandthuscause therudder tobe turned in onedirection. from itslcentralposition, and. vice. versa.

The shitting rod of. the reversiblecontrol mechanism. is. set. byaeontrol. shaft 25 which. may. be

operated. either by. a. hand. or trick whee1.25'con-' nected directlytherewith or this shaft may be providedwith anextension. 21, asshowm bydotted lines-in: Fig. 1. which is-connectedwith' amanually operatedtransmitting mechanism in. the pilot house located= on. the shipremotefrom the steering mechanism. v p

Thecontrolshaft 25. is. arranged horizontally of. the. partsconstitutingthe. steering mechanism.

The front. part ot the control shaft. is journaledin a bearing 29mounted on the 'front part of the-housing and the rear end of thisshaftrotates. iniabearing -3 0.-ofany suitableetype arrangedwithintherear partcot the bore of a tubular follow-up or restoring;shaft. 3 I while i theinterme.-- diate part of. the; control shaft-isjournaled by ansintermediatebearine 32 on the. front end. of

the follow-up. shaft, as shown; in Fig. 3.. The

follow-up. shaft turnsin a-bearing 33zon' the rear part. 01 the housing.

Variousmeans may bev employed: for transmit.-

ting'moticn from. the. rams or plungers-to the vided with across head I!which slides. radially" same therefrom thedouble ram or plunger willbereciprocated and cause the tiller and? rudder: to

be rocked toward and from a central position forsteering the ship. v v

I"he liquid for operating the double. ram or plunger in this manner" maybe alternately supplied toandwithdrawn" fronr'theouter ends artsfollow-up shaft, those; shown. in the drawings comprising: a follow-uporrestoring gear rack.

34 arranged parallel; with. the. rams and con-- shaft and whichcomprises. a front. section; 3.1 journaled 'in a. bearing 38'on atubular differential shaft 39 which is connected by a key 36 orotherwise with the control shaft in rear of the bearing 29, and a rearsection 40 which is journaled on the control shaft by means of twobearin'gs 4| arranged between the bearing 32 and the tubular shaft 39.The two sections of the spider extend laterally from the control shaftand have their outer parts connected by bolts 42, as shown in Fig. .3.

The numeral 43 represents a front differential gear wheel secured to therear end of the differential shaft 39 and the numeral 44 represents arear differential gear wheel secured to the front end of the follow-upshaft 3|. The two differential gear wheels 43, 44 are arranged onopposite sides of the rear section 40 of the spider and are concentricwith each other and the control shaft 25, the differential shaft 39 andthe follow-up shaft 3|. The numeral 45 represents an intermediatefloating differential gear pinion which intermeshes on its oppositesides with the opposing faces of the differential gear wheels and whichis pivoted on the rear section of the spider by means which include apivot shaft, stud or arbor 46 mounted radially on the rear section ofthe spider. provided which cause the hydraulic shifting mechanism tohold the rudder in its assigned position, or cause the rudder to bemoved different' distances from its previous position and then heldthere.

In their preferred form these shifting means are constructed as follows:

The numeral 4'! represents a rock shaft arranged parallel with thecontrol shaft and journaled in bearings 48, 49 mounted on the front partof the control box or housing. On its outer end this rock shaft isprovided with a rock arm 50 which is operatively connected with thecontrol rod or stem 24 by an elbow lever 51 pivoted on the pump casingand having one of its arms connected with the pump control stem 24 whileits other arm is connected by a rod 52 with the rock arm 50.

On its inner or rear end the rock shaft 4! is provided with a lock arm53 of a locking device which is adapted to oscillate with this rockshaft and which is provided with a radial slot 54 and two curved lockingfaces 53, 51 on opposite sides of the radial slot, the axis of each ofthese faces being concentric withthe axes of the control shaft 25 whenthe axis of the respective locking face and those of the control shaftand rock shaft are in line, as shown in Fig. 4.

The numeral 58 represents a trip arm which is part of a trip device andwhich is preferably integral with the front part 31 of the spider andprovided on its outer end with a trip roller or tappet 59 adapted toengage with the slot of the lock arm 53, and also provided on theperiphery of its hub 69 with a receding clearance face SI and acylindrical locking face 52 which is concentric with the control shaftand extends from one side of the clearance face to the other.

When the trip arm is in its central position its tappet 59 is arrangedin the slot of the lock arm 53, as shown in Fig. 6, in which positionthe lock arm is free to be turned in either direction by the tappet ofthe trip arm until the locking face on one side or the other of thisslot engages the periphery of the locking face on the hub of the triparm, as shown in Fig. 4, after which the rock shaft is held againstfurther rotation but the trip arm and its hub are free to rotate furtherindependently of the lock Shifting means are arm and thus hold at restthe parts which are operatively connected with the lock arm in a mannersimilar to the operation of a Geneva stop mechanism.

The operation of this steering apparatus is as follows:

If the rudder is in its central position, as shown in Fig. l, the pumpcontrol stem or shifting rod 24 is in its central position so that thereis no discharge of liquid within the running pump at which time the triproller or tappet 59 engages with the slot 54 in the lock arm 53, asshown in Fig. 6, and the rudder is held against movement in eitherdirection by the liquid in the outer ends of the cylinders l3, l4resisting the movement of the rams or plungers.

If the skipper wishes to turn the rudder so that the ship turnsstarboard (right), he turns the trick wheel 26 and the control shaft 25clockwise to an extent corresponding to the degree he wishes to turn therudder in the respective direction. During this rotation of the controlshaft 25 the front differential gear wheel 43, which turns in unisontherewith, causes the differential pinion 45 to roll on the reardifferential gear wheel 44, which latter is standing still at this time,so that this pinion is carried bodily clockwise and causes the spider toturn inthe same direction.

During the first part of this rotation of the spider the tappet 59 willengage the port side of the slot 54 in the lock arm 53 and turn thelatter in an anti-clockwise direction and permit the tappet to move outof this slot and engage the locking face 55 of the lock arm with thecylindrical locking face 62 of the trip arm 58, as shown in Fig. 4,thereby holding the lock arm at rest but permitting the trip arm 58 tocontinue movement in this direction. This turning movement of the rockshaft 41 in an anti-clockwise direction is transmitted by the .arm 50,rod 52 and lever 51 to the pump control stem 24 so that the liquid isnow forced by the pump 19 into the starboard cylinder I4 and liquid iswithdrawn from the port cylinder I3 and thus causes the rams to be movedtoward the port side of the ship and turn the rudder toward thestarboard side of the same causing the ship to turn starboard.

The extent which the rudder is thus turne toward the starboard (right)is determined by the number of degrees which the trip arm 58 is turnedclockwise from its central position, inasmuch as the pump control stemwill remain in the respective position until the rudder has reached thedesired angle. As the rams move from their central position toward theport side the restoring or follow-up rack 34 which moves in unison withthe rams causes the follow-up or restoring gear pinion 35 to turnanti-clockwise, whereby the rear differential gear wheel 44 will turnthe intermediate pinion 45 so that it rolls on the front differentialgear wheel 43 in an anti-clockwise direction and thus cause this pinionto move bodily in this direction, together with the spider upon whichthe pinion is mounted. During this anti-clockwise movement of the spiderthe trip arm 58 and the hub 63 of the trip device move idly and thelocking arm 53 remains standing still until the locking face 62 of thetrip device has cleared the respective looking face 55 of the lockingdevice and during the last part of this return or restoring movement ofthe trip device its tappet 59 engages the slot 54 of the locking deviceand turns the latter clockwise into its central position, therebycausing the pump control to be returned to its central position in whichfurther'delivery of liquid to the starboard cylinder [4 and withdrawalof liquid from the port cylinder I3 is arrested and the rudder is heldin the position in which it has been set.

In the absence of further manipulation of the steering mechanism therudder is held in a position in which it incline toward the starboardside until such time as the course of the ship requires changing. Whenit is desired to again return the rudder to its central position theskipper turns the trick wheel 26 anti-clockwise whereby the frontdifferential gear wheel 43- connected therewith Will cause theintermediate gear pinion 45 to roll bodily anti-clockwise on the rear.differential gear wheel 44 which is standing still at this time. Duringthis movement of the pinion 45 the spider is also moved anti-clockwisetogether with the arm 58 and hub 60 of the trip device.

'This movement of these parts is continued until the tappet or roller 59of the trip device has moved toward the starboard side of the slot 54 ofthe lock arm 53 and out of engagement therewith, thereby turning thelocking arm 53 clockwise and engaging its locking face 5? with thelocking face 62 of the trip device, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4,and thereby holding the locking device against further movement whilethe trip device is free to move anti-clockwise as far as required. Uponturning the rock shaft 4! clockwise in this manner the operating arm 50thereof shifts the stem 24 of the pump control so as to cause the pumpto deliver liquid into the outer end of the port cylinder l3 andwithdraw liquid from the outer end of the starboard cylinder l4. Whenthis occurs the rams are moved from port to starboard of the shiptogether with the follow-up gear rack 34 connected therewith, wherebythe follow-up pinion 35 is turned clockwise together with the reardifferential gear wheel M which is connected therewith by the follow-upshaft 3| Inasmuch as the floating follow-up gear pinion 45 meshes withthe rear differential gear Wheel 44, this pinion is rolled bodily in aclockwise direction on the front differential gear wheel 43 which isstanding still at this time, thereby causing the locking device to turnanti-clockwise together with the operating arm 50 and causing the latterto shift the control mechanism of the pump into central or neutralposition for stopping the same and holding the rudder in its centralposition.

When it is desired to turn the rudder toward the port side of the shipthe cycle of operations is performed in a manner reverse to those abovedescribed.

As a whole this steering mechanism is very compact and sturdy inconstruction, it is not liable to get out of order and can be servicedconveniently' and easily, and the same permits of easily and quicklysteering a ship and holding its course with a minimum expenditure ofmanual effort or power.

I claim as my invention A steering mechanism comprising arudder, a fluidmotor for moving said rudder, a reversible pump for actuating the motorto shift the rudder, a control shaft adapted to be manually controlled,a tubular follow-up shaft surrounding said control shaft, a tubulardifferential shaft surrounding said-control shaft, front and reardifferential gear wheels connected, respectively, with said differentialshaft and said follow-41p shaft, a floating differential gear pinionmeshing on its opposite sides with opposing parts of said gear wheels, aspider turning about the axis of said control and follow-up shafts andhaving an inner section arranged between said gear wheels and carryingsaid floating differential gear pinion and an outer section which turnson said differential shaft, a trip device connected with the frontsection of said spider and having a trip arm provided with a tappet andahub having a receding clearance face and a cylindrical locking faceextending circumferentially around the hub from one side of saidclearance face to the other side thereof, a lock arm having a radialslot adapted to receive said tappet and curved locking faces on oppositesides of said slot adapted to engage said circumferential locking face,a rock shaft carrying said lock arm, an operating arm connected withsaid rock shaft and operatively connected with up shaft, and a restoringgear rack meshing with said restoring gear pinion and operativelyconnected with said rudder and motor to move therewith.

FRED GASCHE.

